The Walking Dead is the unquestionable king of zombie entertainment. The series, based on Robert Kirkman's critically acclaimed comic book of the same name, first debuted over a decade ago. It has amassed a massive following over the years. Over the course of its run, the show has attracted more viewers from the coveted 18-49-year-old demographic than any other television program ever.
However, viewership has been declining over the past handful of seasons, and the showrunners decided to end the series after its eleventh season, which is slated to conclude later this year. The last episode has been filmed, leaving long-time fans of the serious frantically scrambling for a new series to satiate their hunger for zombie content.
Fortunately, a new walking dead spinoff series, Tales of the Walking Dead, was recently announced. The new show will be an anthology series, which means that each episode will tell a new tale of survivors living their lives in the zombie apocalypse. Though most episodes will tell stories that are entirely novel, they will also reintroduce characters that appeared in the original series.
What can fans expect from Tales of the Walking Dead?
A Whole New Batch of Walking Dead Survivors
Over the course of The Walking Dead and its numerous spinoff series, audiences have developed deep and complex relationships with their favorite characters. However, many viewers are likely itching to see a different set of people explore the weird and worrying world of walkers. Though the original series has never been shy about introducing characters, Tales of the Walking Dead will represent the perfect opportunity to introduce an entirely new cast of characters.
Though the exact plot of upcoming episodes is unknown, the list of celebrity names that have already been linked to the series is sure to excite audiences everywhere. Among those announced to appear in the anthology series are Terry Crews (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Deadpool 2), Olivia Munn (Iron Man 2. X-Men: Apocalypse), Parker Posey (Blade: Trinity, Superman Returns), Anthony Edwards (Top Gun, Designated Survivor), and Jessie T. Usher (Independence Day: Resurgence, The Boys). With such an impressive cast, it's easy for Walking Dead fans to expect that the new spinoff show will introduce characters that are just as compelling as the characters in the original series. A slew of fresh faces might be exactly what is needed to revive this undead franchise.
The Return of Walking Dead Characters
.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=1500&dpr=1.5)
Though it will be nice to see fresh faces in Tales of the Walking Dead, fans of the series can rest assured that a few classic characters will return to the spinoff series. While fans might be disappointed to learn that most fan-favorite characters who were killed on the original show will not be making a comeback, there will undoubtedly be familiar faces.
Among the characters returning is Samantha Morton's Alpha. Her character first appeared in the ninth season of The Walking Dead, and she is the leader of a group of survivors called the Whisperers, who all wear walker skin in order to move freely among the undead hordes.
Creative Kills and More Corpse Carnage
It wouldn't be a Walking Dead project without a substantial helping of blood and guts. The show has constantly been inventing new and exciting ways for its characters to kill walkers (and, when necessary, other people). As a general rule, a walker only stops being a threat when its brain is destroyed, but this still allows for a wide spectrum of headshots and decapitations.
In Tales of the Walking Dead, the anthology series format will allow for characters trapped in myriad unique circumstances. As such, the franchise's potential for over-the-top kills in this spinoff series is at an all-time high. Given the difficulties associated with traveling cross-country during a zombie apocalypse, most of America has been unexplored in the series' universe. Could a Midwestern survivor skewer a walker through the eye with an icicle? How might those living in Hawaii kill walkers before they overtake the island?
The first reviews for Tales of the Walking Dead have noted that the anthology series will not necessarily maintain the super serious tone of its predecessors. The first episode of the series features Terry Crews and Olivia Munn as Joe and Evie, a pair of doomsday preppers who entered the zombie apocalypse considerably better prepared than most of the population. Their interactions within the walls of their secure bunker are more rom-com/zom-com than zombie horror.
It is yet to be seen how the rest of the series will play out, but its anthological format will guarantee that audiences get to experience entirely different aspects of the zombie apocalypse. The Walking Dead, though it is finally drawing to a close after eleven seasons, is far from dead.
Tales of the Walking Dead premieres on AMC on August 14, 2022.